This article reports that despite advances in technological medicine, the history and physical examination still provide the definitive diagnosis in most cases and remain the cornerstone of clinical medicine. Medical students spend a great deal of time learning these techniques. Students continue to be taught the long-case complete history and physical, despite its inefficiency and errors. Students can learn to solve problems more expertly by using schema that assist storage and retrieval of clinical knowledge than by rote memorization of lists and dispersed knowledge. Clinical textbooks seldom provide the frequency of clinical manifestations of particular diseases, even where good evidence exists.

Context: The reliance on physical examination as a diagnostic aid is in decline.Objective: To determine whether an educational program can increase the use of physical examination by medical residents.Design and Participants: A series of educational...

Background: Physical examination is a crucial part in medical student curricula, but a decline in physical examination skills was noted in the last two decades. The benefic role of ultrasonography (US) as an adjuvant method for clinical examination was evaluated in many studies, but there are...

The article presents tips for a successful medical check-up. It emphasizes that planning is important to know the things that patients need to understand and accomplish during the check up. Suggestions on how to maximize time during the visit include arriving on time for the appointment,...

The article presents a guidance on screening pelvic examination in women from the American College of Physicians (ACP). The ACP argues that pelvic examinations should not be done in asymptomatic, non-pregnant women. Topics include harms versus benefits of such screening, the risk of...

Discusses the history and development of periodic health examinations in the U.S. Origin of screening examinations in the country; Role of health insurance companies in the implementation of periodic examinations for adults; Purpose of industrial and military use of periodic health examinations.